Nation's Report Card Home

Sample Questions

What questions are used in the NAEP science assessment?

Explore sample questions from the science assessment, and see how the NAEP science questions relate to student performance.

 

Test Yourself in Science

Select one of the grade tabs below to try out questions from the 2009 NAEP science assessment. After answering all the questions, compare your score with that of students nationally.

Grade 4
Grade 8
Grade 12
Question 1 of 5 :

The following question refers to the diagram below, showing a food web. The arrows show the direction of energy flow. Each arrow points from the organism that is consumed to the organism that consumes it. Use the information in the food web to answer the questions that follow.

Picture of a food web. The web is composed of pictures of a hawk, a fox, a kinglet (small bird), a squirrel, a salamander, a pine borer (insect), oak acorns, and a pine tree. Connecting arrows point from the organism that is consumed to the organisms that consume it. The organisms are ultimately connected to a box at the bottom of the food web that is labeled “decomposers.”

Which statement best explains why decomposers are an important part of this food web?

  1.    They use sunlight to make their own food.
  2.    They give off oxygen for animals to breathe.
  3.    They provide camouflage for small animals.
  4.    They make nutrients available to plants.
Next Button, click to proceed.
The correct answer is: D
Next Button, click to proceed.
Question 2 of 5 :

The following question refers to the following diagram, which represents a portion of Earth's water cycle.

Picture of clouds over the ocean. Ocean has an arrow (labeled 1) pointing up toward a cloud. Another arrow (labeled 2) points into a cloud. Another arrow (labeled 3) points down from a cloud toward the ocean.

Which process is represented by 2?

  1.   Liquid water evaporating
  2.   Cool air warming as it rises
  3.   Clouds blocking the Sun's energy
  4.    Water vapor condensing
Next Button, click to proceed.
The correct answer is: D
Next Button, click to proceed.
Question 3 of 5 :

Three funnels were filled with equal volumes of pebbles, fine sand, and coarse sand, as shown in the diagram below. The same amount of water was poured into each funnel.

Image shows three funnels labeled "Pebbles," "Fine Sand," and "Coarse Sand."

Which correctly lists the order in which the water passed through the funnels, from fastest to slowest?

  1.    Pebbles, fine sand, coarse sand
  2.    Pebbles, coarse sand, fine sand
  3.   Fine sand, coarse sand, pebbles
  4.    Coarse sand, pebbles, fine sand
Next Button, click to proceed.
The correct answer is: B
Next Button, click to proceed.

Question 4 of 5:

This question refers to the following information.

Meg designs an experiment to see which of three types of sneakers provides the most friction.

She uses the equipment listed below.

  • Sneaker 1
  • Sneaker 2
  • Sneaker 3
  • Spring scale

She uses the setup illustrated below and pulls the spring scale to the left.

A rectangular illustration of a gym floor labeled "To the Left," "Upward," "To the Right," and "Downward." On the gym floor is a Spring Scale. A string extends from the scale to Sneaker 1.

In what direction does the force of friction act?

  1.   To the left
  2.   To the right
  3.   Upward
  4.   Downward
Next Button, click to proceed.
The correct answer is: B
Next Button, click to proceed.

Question 5 of 5:

Kelly slides a flat rock across the smooth ice of a frozen pond. The rock slows down after several seconds. What causes the rock to slow down?

  1.   The thickness of the ice
  2.   The temperature of the air above the ice
  3.   The force of friction between the ice and the rock
  4.   The gravitational force between the ice and the rock
Next Button, click to proceed.
The correct answer is: C
Next Button, click to proceed.

The chart below shows the percentage of questions that you answered correctly, as well as how students at each of the achievement levels performed on this set of questions. For instance, eighth-grade students Proficient had a percentage correct of 72% on average.

[Overall|55],[Below Basic|39],[Basic|56],[Proficient|72],[Advanced|89] Eighth-grade percentage correct on selected science questions by achievement level: 2009
Loading results...

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2009 Science Assessment.

Eighth-Grade percentage correct on selected science questions, by district: 2009

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2009 Science Assessment.

View this set of questions in the NAEP Questions Tool to see student performance.